Day’s Worst: The cruise from hell

The stories that have emerged from a Carnival cruise ship that lost power[2] four days ago are wretched — essentially, 4,000 people are trapped on a floating outhouse.

Beyond the conditions, there was word Thursday that the disabled ship had been cursed with mechanical problems[3] in the weeks before a fire reportedly started in the engine room, causing the power failure.

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating, and that is a good thing. As the ship nears port, the passengers need to be treated with the utmost consideration for the ordeal they’ve endured, but federal authorities also must conduct a thorough investigation to determine whether the situation was forseeable.

To be sure, accidents can happen, but determining whether there were warning signs that the ship, the Carnival Triumph, was unfit for a cruise would be a public service.

It won’t, however, help the poor people that were still stuck on the ship Thursday afternoon. As they drew closer to land — finally — a tow line snapped, briefly delaying their arrival in Mobile, Alabama. And after they get off the ship, a process that will take four to five hours, they’ll have the choice of a two-hour bus ride to New Orleans, or a seven-hour ride to Galveston, Texas.